Wire reel



Feb. 12, 1924,` 1`,4;,3,765.`

' D. B. BEAVERS l' WIRE REEL Filed Sept. 21 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 y BY Feb. 12, 1924. 1,483,765

D. B. BEAVERS WIRE REE-L Filed Sept. 2l 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Feb. l2, 1924.

DALID'GEB. BEnv'E'Rs, onwnsnrneon DISTRICT or COLUMBIA.

WIRE

nppuauonfmeaseptember 21, 1921. seriai No. 502,213.

l/ 'o all ywhom. t may lconcern `Be it linown that I, DALRIDGEB. BEAVERS, -a citizen `of the United States, residing at lVashington, in ythe `District of "Columbia, have invented fnew and `useful Improvementsin Wireitteelaof Whichthe following is a specification.

One object 'of my said invention is vthe provision of l a 'reel constructed Witlia view to facilitating `the handling of Wire, morel particularly crossconnecting or jumper wires in telephone central office terminal looms, the said reel `beingadapted "for fthe mounting offaf'coil of Wire :and `to be `expeditiously and easily expanded in thecoil and `-to tbe ias readily Contracted 'for the removal-of "a coil and 4for the mounting on the reelfof a fresh coil.

Another `object is 4thezprovision of a reel char-acterized'by the capacity toadequately support the sideaportions'of a coilof Wire `v'as Well las they central lportion Yof the l coil, and this Without the liability ofvon'e or more of theyside coils overhang'ing the lre'elandinterferingwitlrthe olfieration of the reel i'u-' cident 'to the .payinfwr-` ofi' i of Wire.

yAnother object is the provision of a `reel embodying mea-ns lfor expeditiously and easily and at the same time positively en` ,panding and contracting the reel.

rTo the attainment offtheforegoing` the invention consists inthe improvement as here inafter described and `definitely claimed.v

In the l`accompanying dranf'i'ng's. formingl part 'of this specification:

i Figurey -`l is r a -front elevation ill ustrating a coil -of'wire positioned on my novel reel'and also showingthe reelin its contracted state. FigureQ is 'azplan view ofthe contracted lreelnperse.

`Figure 3 isav front elevation showing` the f reel as expanded. f

Figure 4 fis any enlarged `horizontalr sec* ltion illustrating the construction at the inner endof the reel. t

-Figure 5 is a detail venlarged\diametrical section ofthe construction-atthe' outer end of the reel.

Figut'e is ank enlarged transverse section taken on the line 6 6 ofFigure- 5.

'Figure-7 is a fragmentary transverse section on the line 7-7 of Figure v3 Vand Aillustrating lthe :preferred manner `of pivotallgy7 connectingthe bladesof the :reellin couples. fSimilar y'numerals yof reference designate corresponding fparts in-all of the 'views of the drawings. i

Among yother 'elements my improvement comprises a bracket l adapted to be associated with any appropriate support. -s ybest shown `in yFigure 4, the said bracket comprises plates 2 'with yspaced arms A3 `in parallelism, the :said arms V3` being'connected by bolts t and nuts 5, and being maintained in spaced relation by `i'ntc-xrposed `tubes .-6 finounted on the bolts. In the-said arms i B of lthe bracket is secured preferably bynuts .T atubular bearing `8 ywhich receives the shaft -f9-of "the reel. InWardly beyond the inner yarm 3 ofthe bracket the :shaft 19 is provided 1 with -an'fabutment` l0 formed by preferencel of tivo nuts, oneof 'thesaid nut-s .being a'da-pt'ed'to serve in'conventionalnianlner as a janib nut. Mounted on the inner ,portion fof thesha'ft 9 and rinterposed be- 'tweenthefabutment 10 andthe adjacent nut 7 isa coiled springzlh'thefunction of which is to tension the shaft 9 and fthe reelas a ivhole lwith a View to `preventing ltoo lfree rotation of-vthcfreel. The practicatadvantageof this provision willbeappreciated ivhcniit is stated that in the absenceof tensioning means such asmlesoribed, the pulling ofthe 'router-end portion of 'theshaft 9 threaded as designatedby 13. and a cap 1'4 :is-mounted on the free'end'of theshaftvto yserve as a v'stop'a-tlainst outward `movement `ofthe W'heelllike nut 115 which isthreaded ou the shaft portion 13 and is-provided With afla'ter-al handle 16. 1u theinnergportion ot I'thefhubofthe-said Anut 15 i-s a circumferential .groove yl1 11n vwhich '1s seated they inivardlydirectediiange 1S of Aa sectional colla'r 19. witlrthe result thatthe -said'collar t9 is conneoted'in sWivelman-ner Withthe nut The fsect-ionsof the 'said collar 19 are connected by screws 20 or other' appropriate means with the outer head 2l of the reel. The reel also comprises an inner head 22 which is fixed to the shaft 9 by a set screw 23 or other appropriate means, it being understood in -this connection that the head'22'is'ixed to the shaft 9 while the outer head 2l is movable on the shaft rec-v tilinearly toward and from the inner head 22. Each of the heads 21 and 22 is provided with a circumferential groove 24;, and

each head has seated in its circumferential groove 24 asn annular device 25 for pivotally connecting to the heads the ends of certain of the blades 26. The said bla-des 26 are straight, and arearranged in pairs, and the blades comprised in each pair are pivotally connected together in lapped relation at their centers preferably in the manner shown in Figure 7. lt will also be readily noted from' the drawings that one end of one blade in each pair is pivotally connected to the head 2l, and that one end of the other blade of said pair is pivotally connected to the head 22. From this it follows that inward rotation of the nut l5 will be' attended by expansion of the reel, while outward rotation of the said nut 15 will be accompanied by contraction of the reel. The straight character of the blades 26 and the arrangement of the blades relatively to each other and to the heads 2l and 22 are of material advantage, inasmuch as they assure the periphery of the reel being of a diamond shape or of an obtuse angle shape. In virtue of this it will be understood that when the reel .is expanded in the opening within a coil of wire the blades 26 will exert outward pressure against the' side convolutions of the coil as well as against the central convclutions of the coil,

'and it will be noted also that the outward inclination of the `free portions of the blades 26 will preclude the outer convolutions of the coil overlapping the ends of the blades. From this it follows that incident tothe use of the reel there is no liability of any portion of the coil of wire l2 interfering with the free operation of the reel.

In the practical use of my novel reel, the reel is maintained in horizontal position. and while the reel is in a contracted state, as shown in Figuresl and 2, a coil of wire l2 is placed on the reel so that the blades 26 are'in the opening within the coil. The nut l5 is then manually turned in clockwise direction, and hence the blades 26 will be tiered and moved outwardly to expand the reel ywithin 'the coil 12, and this until the blades 26 bear solidly against the coil'.v With thisdone. it will be apparent that the coil of wire '12 will" be conveniently mounted in such manner that it may be rotated with but little effort simply by 'lrawing` upon the end portion of the wire, andv then when the length desired is let off of the reel it will be understood that because of the tensioning of the reel the cessation of pulling on the wire will be followed by an immediate stoppage of the rotation of the reel.

Notwithstanding the practical advantages ascribed to my novel reel, it will be readily appreciated that the same is simple and inexpensive in construction and is well adapted to withstand the usage to which devices of'analogous character are ordinarily sub jected.

The construction herein illustrated and described has been reduced to actual practice and has been successfully operated, and l therefore desire it understood that I prefer the said construction with all of the details hereinbefore specifically set forth. l

do not desire, however, to be understood as f confining myself to the specificconstruction and relative arrangement of the parts comprised in the reel, inasmuch asin the future practice of my invention ysuch chan-ges or modifications may be made `as fairly fall within the purview of `my invention `as defined in my appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A reel having heads, one of which is movable rectilinearly toward and away from the other, and straight blades arranged in pairs with the blades pivotally connected together at their centers and with one end of` one blade connected to one hea-d and the other end of the other blade connected tothe other head, in combination with a shaft carrying the said heads and having an`outer threaded portion, and a manually-movable nut mounted on the threaded portion offtlie shaft.A outwardly4v beyond `the saidinovablc head and coupled in vswivel manner to said head; the inner portion of said shaft being journaled in an appropriate support, and

tensioning means interposed between the said support and an abutment on the shaft inwardly fromthe support. i v

2A A reel construction comprising a bracket with spaced and parallel arms, bolts and nuts connecting said arms, tubesA mounted on the bolts and interposed between 1the arms to maintain the same in spaced rela tion,'a tubular bearing mountedin and extending between the arms, nuts threaded on said tubularbearing and disposed at 'opposite sides of the arms, a shaft journaled in the tubularbearing and extending inwardly beyond the same and provided on its inner portion with an abutment, a spring sur-y rounding said shaft portion and interposed between the abutment on the shaft and the adjacent nut, an inner head fixed on the shaft. 'an outer iectilineaily movable head on the ential grooves, a manually movable nut shaft, said-heads having circumfer-v llt) threaded on the shaft outwardly beyond the with the ends of the blades of each pair conrectilinearly movable head, said nut having neeted one to one head and the other to the a circumferential groove, a collar connected other head. 10 to the movable hea-d and having a flange dis- In testimony whereof I affix my signa posed in said groove of the nut, and straight ture.

blades arranged in pairs with the blades of each pair pivotally connected together and DALRIDGE B. BEAVERS. 

